After leaving the lovely city of Dublin, we hopped on a plane over to Dingle, Ireland. This was a short flight that took less time than bus or train, and was actually the cheapest option. If you missed the blog post on our travels in Dublin, click here to catch up!
If you are traveling within Europe, plane tickets are very reasonable. We were also only traveling with backpacks for this trip, so it made getting on and off planes very easy. Most of our flights were around 40 Euro, and were less than an hour travel time going in between countries. We were trying to cram in as much travel as we could in the 2 1/2 weeks we had, so we tried to find the most cost/time efficient means of doing so.
Dingle is a small port town on the southwest Dingle Peninsula. When our plane landed at their very small airport, there were no rental car options so we opted for a private car to take us the 45 minutes to our B&B in the center of town. I am so glad we did this for two reasons; we arrived when it was getting dark and pouring rain, and also the roads are very narrow and we weren’t used to driving on the opposite side of the road. One wrong turn and we would have plummeted off a cliff. I am not exaggerating in the least bit, you have beautiful coastal views and driving through breathtaking fields of green, but the roads are super narrow with minimal guard rails (not even sure that would stop you). Plus, the idea of driving a manual car with the opposite hand I’m use to driving with, on narrow roads where you literally have to pull over to the shoulder to squeeze two cars through in some spots… I’m glad we didn’t rent a car on our first visit. Our next visit though, we plan on braving it so we can explore more places plus we’ll have our daughter Edith, so it will just make more sense. But for this trip, our nice driver met us when our plane landed and took us to the front steps of our B&B for less than 50 Euro, totally worth every penny.
Our B&B was amazing, close to all the pubs and local restaurants. We stayed at the Lantern Townhouse, located centrally to anywhere you might want to walk to Dingle. It was cozy, clean and came with a hot breakfast. We checked in, walked over and got some fresh fish and chips right off the water, and walked to a pub right by our room and had a couple pints before we went back to our B&B to recharge.
If you are traveling along the coast of Ireland, you need to be prepared for the weather. It’s more so wet and cold, even in the summer. You’ll need to have rain gear and waterproof shoes, very important. At the end of this post, shop our Amazon travel gear. We walked everywhere while we were in Dingle, taking in all the small town charm and picturesque views.
There is a celebrity in Dingle, Fungie the dolphin. We took a boat tour around the port and Fungie came to say hello. Fungie has been visiting people since 1983 in Dingle and comes and says hello for the daily tours.
Dingle really is just beautiful. Full of flowers, greenery, natural streams running through the town, beautiful buildings and unique shops with handmade goods.
While we were in Dingle, we ventured to the Dingle Distillery where they make their own gin.
We spent our two days just walking around, exploring this small town. Stopping at pubs along the way, visiting new restaurants the locals recommended eating our weight from seafood caught fresh daily. Being landlocked in Kansas City, you bet we took advantage of being on the ocean and eating all the fresh, glorious seafood Dingle had to offer.
Dingle is worth the trip if you decide to venture out past the major touristy cities. You are also nestled in between some beautiful places that are easily traveled if you were to rent a car. If we had a car we would have taken a drive up to Galway. As a knitter, it’s on my list of places to visit for all the beautiful, squishy wool. We do plan on going back and renting a car so we can go and explore more. We’d also love to make our way up to Northern Ireland, we’ve heard it’s breathtakingly beautiful.
Until then Dingle, thanks the lovely 2 days. Next, we hopped on a bus to Cork where we stayed for a day, ate some great food, explored their fabulous English Market (one of my favorite places on our trip, we ate there for several meals), and checked out a few breweries while we explored the city. Next, we hopped on another plane over to Edinburgh, Scotland. Check back for more of our travels! Subscribe via email to get notifications for our next post!
Below are a few pictures from our quick trot around Cork.
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